The Dream Realm was quiet. Too quiet.
And in dreamspace, quiet wasn't peace — it was suppression.
The robed figure floated beside Jin Ye, their starlight dim.
"The Marauder has already devoured three dream provinces. If they consume a fourth, the instability will spread to every mortal mind on the continent."
First Sight
The ground beneath them melted into liquid glass, reflecting a sky made of mismatched puzzle pieces.
From the horizon crawled… something.
It wasn't one creature — it was all creatures.
It shifted constantly, from tiger to shadow to massive centipede to… an old granny with a frying pan.
Every change carried a faint echo of the dream it had stolen.
The Feast
It stopped ten paces away.
From its patchwork mouth came hundreds of voices, all speaking different nonsense at once:
"WHERE'S MY SOCK—"
"I'M LATE FOR THE VOLCANO—"
"THE TEA IS MADE OF SCREAMS—"
The robed figure whispered, "It consumes the unfinished thoughts of sleeping minds… and leaves them hollow when they wake."
[Heavenly System Log]
New Objective: Defeat the Dream Marauder.
Sleep-based abilities enhanced by 150% inside dreamspace.
Warning: Direct attacks will strengthen the Marauder unless accompanied by dream logic inversion.
Dream Logic Inversion
Normal combat wouldn't work.
Here, power wasn't measured in Qi, but in how absurdly you could bend the rules.
So Jin Ye decided to get stupid.
He pulled a fishing rod out of thin air. The bait? A tax form.
In dreamspace, this was irresistible to the Marauder, which lunged and swallowed it whole.
The form expanded inside it — because Jin Ye had written "Must Contain All Previous Meals" in the "Additional Clauses" section.
The Marauder doubled over, coughing up half-digested dreams.
Jin Ye transformed the spilled dreams into giant rubber chickens that pecked at the Marauder's shifting body, each peck erasing a stolen memory.
Counterattack
The Marauder roared, shifting into a tornado of teeth and piano keys.
It sucked Jin Ye into its center — where stolen dreams churned like a storm.
Here, the Marauder was strongest.
Here, Jin Ye would have to break it from the inside.
Inside the Marauder
He drifted through fragments:
A child dreaming of endless candy.
A farmer trapped in a chess game with a goat.
A swordsman swinging at his own shadow.
Jin Ye touched each one, editing the logic:
Candy turned into alarm clocks.
Goat became sect leader with urgent paperwork.
Shadow started teaching the swordsman instead of fighting him.
Every correction weakened the Marauder.
The Final Twist
Back in the outer dreamscape, the Marauder staggered.
Jin Ye appeared on its back, holding an impossible pillow — one that existed and didn't at the same time.
"This," he said, "is the Pillow of Paradox. Sleep on it, and you wake up. Wake on it, and you sleep."
He smashed it down on the Marauder's head.
The creature froze.
Then… it laughed.
Then… it fell asleep and woke up at the same time, collapsing into harmless dream smoke.
[Heavenly System Log]
Quest Complete: "The Dream Marauder's Feast"
Reward: Permanent Skill – "Lucid Domination" (Control all dream elements in a 500m radius while inside dreamspace.)
Bonus: Core Formation – 1st Stage.
Side Effect: Reality may occasionally apply dream logic in your vicinity.
The robed figure bowed. "Dreamspace is safe — for now. But the boundary between your naps and our realm grows thinner. One day… you may live here permanently."
Jin Ye smirked. "Fine. As long as the food's good."